1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for the removal of tissue from a region of interest in a body part of a patient. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the removal of tissue from a region of interest in a body part of a patient, such as a breast, wherein the tissue removal is guided by stereotactic radiography.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stereotactic mammographic devices have been used to determine the three dimensional coordinates of a region of interest in a breast relative to a point of reference on the stereotactic devices. The three dimensional coordinates are generally used for diagnostic and surgical procedures, and more particularly to insert the end of a wire, the tip of a biopsy needle or the tip of a rotary cutting tool into the region of interest in the breast. Wires are generally used to guide a surgeon to the region of interest to remove part or all thereof. The biopsy needle is typically used to sample cells or tissue from the region of interest. The rotary cutting tool is generally used for the removal of tissue from the region of interest.
One example of a stereotactic mammographic device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,520, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The commercial embodiment of the device described and illustrated in the patent has been used to guide a biopsy needle into a region of interest to obtain samples of cells and tissue. Also, such device has been used to guide rotary surgical cutting instruments to remove tissue from a region of interest.
As described in C. W. Putnam, "Techniques of Ultrasonic Dissection in Resection of the Liver", Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, Vol. 157, pgs. 474-478, November, 1983, ultrasonic aspirated dissectors, such as the Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator, comprise a handpiece which is connected to a control console. The handpiece contains a water-cooled magnetostrictive transducer that activates a hollow titanium tip along its longitudinal axis at a frequency of approximately 23,000 cycles per second. The tip of the handpiece is irrigated and a suction line is connected to the hollow tip to aspirate the irrigant, blood and tissue fragments. The instrument works by generating ultrasonic vibrations which selectively fracture tissue in proportion to its water content. The fractured tissue is removed via the suction line.
Typically such ultrasonic surgical aspirators are controlled by hand in an open surgical procedure which is not minimally invasive. However, as the above referenced article suggests, such devices are used because they afford greater differentiation between the various types of tissue structure found during a surgical procedure involving a liver, for example. Heretofore, it is not believed that an ultrasonic surgical aspirator has generally been used as a minimally invasive tool to remove tissue from a region of interest in a patient's body part, such as a breast, nor has such a tool been guided by a stereotactic radiographic device to remove tissue from the region of interest.